Ettore Calvelli Biography
Ettore Calvelli (Treviso, 5 October 1912 – Ponte di Legno, 5 January 1997) was an Italian sculptor. He attended the Brera High School of Artisans in Milan, where he then taught for 30 years; he also taught for 15 years at the Ursuline Art School of S. Carlo. He worked mainly in Milan, dedicating himself to the activity of bronze worker. He was invited, already at the age of twenty-eight, to the Venice Biennale, in which he participated for six editions. He also exhibited at the Quadrennials in Rome. In 1946 he executed and exhibited The Madonna of the Mantle at the Angelicum (now in the Seminary of Brescia). He is present with his medals and bronze panels not only in private collections, but also in various museums, including the Vatican Museums of Contemporary Art (with twenty-six works), the Cà Pesaro in Venice and the Museum of Sacred Art of the Contemporanei of Villa Clerici in Milan (about one hundred works). Twelve of his "Dantesque" medals, already exhibited at the Ravenna Biennale, are found in the Museum of Sacred Art in Venice, other medals are in the Ricci Oddi Museum in Piacenza. The State Mint has distributed his works, while the FAO has minted six of its official medals dedicated to the myth of Ceres and hosts 42 of them at the entrance to the world headquarters in Rome. Other important works are found in the Franciscan convent of Tonale (50 medals); a medal collection dedicated to the Canticle of Creatures is in the new choir of the monastery on the island of San Francesco del Deserto in the Venetian lagoon; in the church of Poia there are 120 medals inserted in the doors. Other works are in the Parish Museum of Ponte di Legno, of which the artist himself was director. In 1976 he fashioned four medals for the UN, while in 1960 he was in charge of the execution of the Italian Champions Cup. In 1978 he was appointed Pontifical Academician. Recently he decided to move permanently to Ponte di Legno, where he already had a studio. He died in Ponte di Legno on 5 January 1997.
